vanishing languages - 06/20/01 12:47 PM
There was an article in yesterday's local paper regarding vanishing languages. Unfortunately, I've been unable to find an online version to point you to, but the AP article by Darlene Superville says that of the world's 6,800 languages, 50 to 90 percent could be extinct by the end of the century. Half of all languages are spoken by fewer than 2,500 people, and according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, a language needs at least 100,000 speakers to pass from generation to generation.
The article names three languages - Udihe (Siberia; 100 people), Eyak (Alaska; 1 person), and Arikapu (the Amazon; 6 people) - as especially doomed.
The article also says,
It's becoming a struggle, too, to find many who can say "thank you" in the Navajo language of the American Indian tribe (ahehee), say "hello" in the Maori language of New Zealand (kia ora) [hi Max!!!] or rattle off the proud Cornish saying: "Me na vyn cows Sawsnak!" (I will not speak English).
The losses ripple far beyond the affected communities. When a language dies, linguists, anthropologists and others lose rich sources of material for their work documenting a people's history, finding out what they knew and tracking their movements from region to region.
The article notes that 8 countries - Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nigeria, India, Mexico, Cameroon, Australia and Brazil - account for more than half of all languages.
The article names three languages - Udihe (Siberia; 100 people), Eyak (Alaska; 1 person), and Arikapu (the Amazon; 6 people) - as especially doomed.
The article also says,
It's becoming a struggle, too, to find many who can say "thank you" in the Navajo language of the American Indian tribe (ahehee), say "hello" in the Maori language of New Zealand (kia ora) [hi Max!!!] or rattle off the proud Cornish saying: "Me na vyn cows Sawsnak!" (I will not speak English).
The losses ripple far beyond the affected communities. When a language dies, linguists, anthropologists and others lose rich sources of material for their work documenting a people's history, finding out what they knew and tracking their movements from region to region.
The article notes that 8 countries - Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nigeria, India, Mexico, Cameroon, Australia and Brazil - account for more than half of all languages.
